Kylian Mbappe had a record to chase and a ghost to bury. He dealt with both in the space of 24 second-half minutes at the MetLife Stadium.
The 27-year-old struck twice as France overcame a nervy, competitive Senegal side 3-1 to open their Group I campaign in East Rutherford, and in doing so, overtook Olivier Giroud as the all-time leading scorer in French football history.
His 57th and 58th goals for Les Bleus eclipsed Giroud’s career benchmark in just his 99th international cap.
More significantly for the World Cup itself, Mbappe’s brace took his career World Cup tally to 14, leaving him just two behind Miroslav Klose’s all-time tournament record.
It should have been comfortable. It wasn’t. France went into this fixture haunted by 2002, when they arrived in South Korea and Japan as reigning world champions and were beaten by this exact opponent in their opening game, going out in the group stage without scoring a single goal.
Senegal served as a genuine reminder of that threat, creating chances, pressing high and threatening to make it a very different kind of evening. Deschamps’ side struggled in the first half, with Senegal squandering an opportunity to take the lead moments before the interval.
That miss proved costly. Mbappe finally opened the scoring shortly after the hour mark, with Michael Olise providing an excellent assist before substitute Bradley Barcola netted late on to double France’s advantage.
Senegal pulled one back deep into stoppage time through Ibrahim Mbaye’s stunning curling effort, briefly raising hopes of a grandstand finish, before Mbappe ended any lingering doubt with a thunderous long-range effort into the top corner to seal it.
Deschamps admitted afterwards that the tactical adjustments made the difference. “It’s a bit of a relief,” he said. “We were a little apprehensive at the start. Changing Ousmane [Dembele] and Michael’s [Olise] positions made a big difference. It’s always important to win your opening match. That’s the magic of football when you get to share those emotions. It’s only the first game but we’re going to enjoy it.”
For Mbappe, the record and the result were secondary to the bigger picture. “It gives us a bit more peace of mind, although you’re never really relaxed at a World Cup,” he said. “We’ve seen it with the other teams – winning is never easy. It wasn’t straightforward today but we know we’re capable of scoring at any moment. We have to stay calm and composed, stick to what we need to do, because everything happens so quickly at a World Cup. Now our focus shifts to the match against Iraq.”
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